U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins granted a waiver to the SNAP program for the state of Iowa as she is asking states to submit such requests. This request was submitted by Governor Reynolds after a similar bill was started during the Iowa legislative session, passing the House but never being voted on in the Senate, meaning the governor chose to do this on her own before it was even discussed in the house.
The idea behind this waiver is to eliminate SNAP spending on ‘junk food’, and it is done by removing foods which are taxed from eligible SNAP spending.
I understand the point that Secretary Rollins is making, there is sense in making sure the food we provide for public programs is nutritious, and Governor Reynolds pointed out the increasing level of obesity in Iowa as the reason for this waiver. This seems to imply that SNAP recipients tend to overspend on ‘junk food’ compared to the rest of the population.
House Republicans pointed to a study that shows sugary drinks and desserts are the second most often purchased category for SNAP benefits and pushing that as the reason they must be curtailed. Looking at the study in more detail, it concludes that SNAP and non-SNAP households spend almost the same amount on each category, stating:
Both groups of households spent about 40 cents of every dollar of food expenditures on basic items such as meat, fruits, vegetables, milk, eggs, and bread. Another 20 cents out of every dollar was spent on sweetened beverages, desserts, salty snacks, candy and sugar. The remaining 40 cents were spent on a variety of items such as cereal, prepared foods, dairy products, rice, and beans.
If SNAP households spend almost the exact same proportions on the same categories as non-SNAP households, any obesity or health-related issues are unrelated to SNAP funding allowed for such purchases and we would be better off looking at better nutrition education and improving accessibility to healthy foods, which is also what organizations such as the Hunger Coalition recommend.
Studies also indicate the effect of this change is likely negligible. The study I am linking here is fairly complex, so I’ll try to explain it with an illustration. Please note that the dollar amounts I am mentioning are made up.
Let’s say an individual earns take home income dedicated to groceries of $100 and receives a SNAP benefit of $100. This allows a total food budget of $200. If we have 20% of spending on ‘junk food’ as is typical according to the SNAP study linked, that means the individual would spend $40 on ‘junk food’. This leaves $160 to spend on everything else. Since their disposal income is over $40, they can simply dedicate all of their SNAP benefit on eligible foods and have no change of any kind to the food in their cart.
Long story short, the SNAP benefit will be lower than the total spending on eligible purchases anyway making this change effectively useless.
In addition to these waiver requests, the new budget bill passed by the U.S. house cuts SNAP funding by $300 billion, which will likely shift the burden from the federal government to state governments, the full impacts of that shift are not yet fully known.
I fully believe our federal and state governments should work together to improve health outcomes across the United States. These changes will only add red tape and increase stigmas for citizens in need without creating any meaningful impact.
Sources:
https://www.fns.usda.gov/newsroom/usda-0072.25
https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/2025/03/27/house-passes-bill-limiting-items-iowans-with-snap-benefits-could-buy/82670593007/
https://www.iowapublicradio.org/ipr-news/2025-05-13/snap-waiver-iowa-usda
https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/2025/05/22/trump-administration-approves-kim-reynolds-waiver-request-to-restrict-what-iowans-can-buy-snap/83801924007/
https://who13.com/news/iowa-news/gov-reynolds-waiver-to-limit-eligible-food-under-snap-approved/
https://www.iowapublicradio.org/state-government-news/2025-03-27/iowa-house-bill-limit-snap-benefits-to-healthy-foods-and-drinks
https://www.foodpolitics.com/wp-content/uploads/SNAPFoodsTypicallyPurchased_16.pdf
https://www.kcrg.com/2025/05/24/iowa-hunger-coalition-says-restrictions-snap-wont-make-state-healthier/#:~:text=These%20SNAP%20recipients%20TV9%20spoke,SNAP%20carry%20the%20wrong%20message.
https://surf.econ.uic.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/882/2022/05/SNAP_Matters_Ch4.pdf
https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/2025/05/22/iowa-impact-of-congress-budget-cuts-to-medicaid-snap/83742388007/
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